Fire Tv Edition USB issue

I recently purchased the 24-inch Insignia Fire TV. The product ads and literature claim that you can use a USB stick to extend the pause live TV time from 2 minutes to 60 minutes. I connected and formatted an 8 GB stick, which the TV sees as confirmed by the settings panel. But there has been no increase of the pause time. Any suggestions?

Also - can you move apps from internal storage to the USB stick, as you can with other Fire TV devices.

Re: Fire Tv Edition USB issue

I'm afraid I have to retract my original reply as I've received new information.

I heard from our engineering team who informed me:

To use this feature, all you need to do is plug in a USB drive with free space available. The amount of free space will determine the amount of additional buffer time (this is also dependent on the bandwidth of the incoming signal). Generally any GB+ typical size USB drive will work to extend the buffer.

Given this insight, what brand USB flash drive did you use? How was it formatted? Were there any on-screen messages regarding the feature when you attempted to use it? How long does the pause time last with the USB stick in use? What cable/satellite service do you use, if any, and in what city?

Any additional information you can provide regarding your experience will help us troubleshoot this for you.

I hope you will forgive the previous faux pas. The new information I received was unexpected, but I hope it proves to be helpful.

I look forward to hearing from you.

John|Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate Give Kudos if you like this post or Accept as Solution if it answers your query!

Re: Fire Tv Edition USB issue

Thank you for sharing the requested details. Our engineers have offered the following insights and advice:

Please confirm you are using antenna OTA ("over the air") input. This only works for live TV on OTA. It will not work on cable/sat connected via HDMI.

Note the buffer will reset anytime you change the channel or go back to home screen.

If you hit Pause and then the screensaver comes on, the buffer will be lost too. In this case turn off the screensaver.

If you just watch an OTA TV channel for several minutes and then hit pause, you will see a bar on bottom of screen that shows the current show’s total duration. The bar is highlighted in white with the amount of the show that is saved in the buffer. As time goes on the white bar will increase in size (as more of the show is saved).This will only get to several minutes without USB drive. With USB drive it will extend further.

If the feature still doesn't appear to be working, as a troubleshooting step, try another USB drive..

Please let me know if this information is helpful.

John|Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate Give Kudos if you like this post or Accept as Solution if it answers your query!

Re: Fire Tv Edition USB issue

I tried a different USB stick and tried both of the formats (internal and external) offered by the TV. No improvement. When I pause a live OTA channel, the TV stays paused for 2 minutes then resumes playing without any intervention by me.

Re: Fire Tv Edition USB issue

Thank you for the update. I'm happy to hear the pause feature is up and running for you at last.

I've made a query to our engineers regarding moving the apps. With apologies, since it's the weekend, I do not expect to have news for you until after the first of the week. As soon as I have more details, I will share them at once. I am grateful for your patience in the interim.

John|Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate Give Kudos if you like this post or Accept as Solution if it answers your query!